​After leaving Banff National Park in Alberta, we made our way south toward the US border, where we were re-joined by Pat and Fred just in time to cross into Montana.  As the national park service was in the middle of celebrating its 100th anniversary, we helped them out by visiting two of its more popular parks – Glacier and Yellowstone.

​Leaving Canada
 
One of the places that often welcomes RV’ers for free overnights is a casino.  We found one after leaving Banff on the lands of the Stoney-Nakoda First Nation people, west of Calgary.  We had a great stay, enjoyed a good meal and even did some laundry.  We did gamble a small amount, but it was fortunate that we kept the amount small.

We took scenic route 22 south toward the border through ranch country, following a line just east of the intersection of the prairies and the Canadian Rockies.  This geography creates some amazing winds, including the famous Chinooks in the winter (strong southerly winds).  The high wind caution signs along the highway gave us the sense of how minor the 20mph winds we experienced were.  

To learn more about the area, we stopped in at the Bar U Ranch National Historic Site.  A small remnant of the first and most successful of the cattle ranches in western Alberta. The historic site recreates life on the ranch in the late 19th and early 20th century.  

Our plans to spend the night at Waterton Lakes National Park (the partner park to Glacier National Park in the US) were scuttled when we arrived to learn that all their campgrounds were full, as were the nearest private campgrounds.  Luckily, we were directed to Payne Lake Provincial Park, where we found a beautiful and spacious lakeside campsite.  Our only problem with this last-minute change in plans was money.  With our imminent return to the US, we had spent down most of our Canadian currency.  Unfortunately, Provincial Parks accept only cash.  For our first night, we scraped together the last bit of our Canadian cash to come up $1 short of the night’s fee.  The camp host graciously accepted it, but told us that we would have to pay in Canadian currency if we stayed another night.  Our friendly neighbors graciously swapped some of their Canadian money for our US dollars so we could pay for our second night.  With our site secured, we hiked up the hill behind the lake and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and pleasant company, amazed at how lucky we were to find this spot.

Glacier National Park
 
The knock on the door took us by surprise.  Figuring it to be one of our neighbors at Payne Lake, we were surprised to see Pat and Fred.  It was Sunday morning and the last communication we had had with them was Friday night over a borrowed cell phone, quickly describing our change of plans.    We hadn’t had any way to call or receive an e-mail from them since.  We learned that they had spent a night in Lethbridge getting a hose replaced on their engine and another night at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (an interesting stop that we missed) before taking a chance on finding us still at the Provincial Park.  

Only a few miles from the US border, we left together and arrived at our campground in northern Montana early afternoon after a short drive.  We crossed the border on the scenic road within Waterton Lakes National Park.  With Glacier National Park’s campgrounds full, we decided to stay at Chewing Blackbones RV Park, which was on the Blackfoot Reservation a few miles north of Glacier National Park’s east entrance at St. Mary’s.  Over the next few days, we explored the park.

Having seen dozens of glaciers on the trip to Alaska and back, we were a little surprised to learn that we would not be seeing any within the park named for them.  Climate change has taken its toll. Many of the park’s glaciers have retreated dramatically, some are gone completely, and all the rest are expected to disappear within 15 years.  This hasn’t dimmed the park’s popularity at all.  The park is bisected by the Going to the Sun road, which was an engineering marvel in its day, winding around and through the mountains, with some sections even suspended above the valley floor far below.  We joined a steady stream of cars traveling this road, enjoying the scenery, but speculating how much longer private cars would be allowed on it.  

The next day we took a hike around two glacial lakes in the northeast section of the park near Many Glacier Hotel. As we made our way around Lake Josephine at the southernmost edge of the trail, we found ourselves walking through endless raspberry bushes, full of the ripe berries.  We had mixed feelings about all this abundance.  They are delicious, so we enjoyed our share of them.  However, it wasn’t lost on us that the bears in the area were probably enjoying them as well.  Sure enough we saw some fresh bear scat full of berry seeds.  Since we found ourselves alone on this part of the trail, we began singing every camp song we could remember, making sure any bear knew we were coming.  The first rule of bear encounters is don’t surprise the bear.  Apparently, our singing was annoying enough it did the trick.

 ​In the evenings, we made our way to the nearby visitor center for some excellent programs.  One was an evening of songs by a member of the Blackfoot nation.  The other was about the centennial of the National Park Service, which was only a couple of days away. 
 
Thanks to that particular anniversary, we soon discovered that we were not going to be in a National Park on the centennial.

Yellowstone National Park
 
As the nation’s first national park, Yellowstone figured prominently in the centennial of the National Park Service.  There was a concert at the north entrance to the park to celebrate on the 25th that was attracting large crowds to the area.  We decided to delay our arrival until the next day.  After a stop in Helena at the county fairgrounds and a Bozeman Wal-mart, we arrived at the Mammoth campground at the north entrance early Friday morning and secured a couple of campsites  This would be our base to explore the park for the next week.

​As one park ranger put it, Yellowstone was created to protect the “weird” geo-thermal features within it.  It sits over the site of a “super volcano” that erupted so violently a couple million years ago that instead of blowing up a mountain range, it simply dissolved it.  The resulting crater or caldera still bubbles, spews and steams as the water encounters the molten rock below. 

​The hot springs in this park are not ones for swimming – their temperatures range from merely scalding to boiling hot.  However they are fascinating and beautiful.  At Mammoth, the springs deposit minerals that grow into terraces, adding height as fast as ¼”  inch a day.  They are orange, gold, green, grey and white – thanks to the heat-loving bacteria that inhabit them.  They are also constantly changing.  We had memories from our trip 25 years ago that didn’t match the current layout of the travertines (rock terraces).  We learned that springs start and stop flowing regularly, move from one area of the hill to another.  We witnessed a spring that was only 2 months old and some that had been flowing for years.  

​As we traveled further south into the park, there were a variety of other thermal features.   There was Roaring mountain, which is covered in fumaroles, steam escaping through numerous fissures in the rock.  Grand Prismatic, the mother of all thermal pools and all of its lesser cousins, have a deep blue center that dissolves through a rainbow colored-edge into a fiery orange perimeter.  There were also the Artist Paintpots, bubbling pools of mud in various hues that the native American used to paint their tipis.  Mud Volcano, Dragon’s breath, the list goes on.

But the stars of the thermal show are the geysers, which includes Old Faithful.  Some erupt every few minutes, some every few hours and some, like Steamboat Geyser, haven’t erupted for years.  We watched several of them erupt and they didn’t lose their fascination.

Yellowstone was created to protect its unique geology, but the animals within its ecosystem are being protected as well.  The understanding of what that means has changed dramatically since the park was created.  Bison, which were on the brink of extinction a century ago now create “bison jams” when some of the population of 5000 meander across the highway. A rarer site to see, now that the park no longer allows visitors to feed them, is a grizzly or black bear.  We saw some of each, but it was the stack of cars and people on the highway that were the first clue that one was nearby.  

​Wolves were eliminated early in the 20th century, but have been back in the park for over 20 years, now numbering about 100.  They help to keep the elk, bison and bear populations much healthier.  Since they actively avoid humans, we felt lucky to catch a glimpse of one in the Lamar Valley one morning.  But by far the closest encounters we had were with the numerous elk that have made Mammoth Hot Springs their home.  They walked through our campsite, parked themselves on the lawn and even poked their head into the door of Pat and Fred’s coach.  We still had to keep our distance, since these are very much wild animals.  

​The most unique encounter we had was with a fox early one morning on a side road  We watched him stalk and pounce on some small animal and then come back to show off as he sat on a rock as we drove by.  We saw pronghorn sheep wondering around the stone arch near Gardiner, and a lone bison sleeping under a tree like Ferdinand the bull in the children’s story.  

​One of the more unique experiences in Yellowstone is a stagecoach ride.  One morning, we took one on  a ride into Pleasant Valley, getting a sense of the kind of transportation that was the only option available the first 43 years of the park’s existence. 

​As the month was coming to an end, Pat and Fred made ready to leave for some scheduled appointments to have work done on their coach.  We decided to stay behind, so we said goodbyes again.  We were less certain that we would see each other until we got to Florida, but it’s been a great summer adventure together.

RV Stuff
 
Although our Honda 1000 generator, which was originally purchased to charge Orion Jr’s batteries, has been doing fine charging the RV’s batteries, we were concerned that it wasn’t up to the challenge if we needed to run the A/C.  While we were staying in Helena, Dave saw an ad for a sale at Harbor Freight on a generator that would do the job.  We had seen one in Seward being used by someone with the same model fifth wheel.  He was able to buy one and Cathy managed to modify a grill cover to keep it dry.  After re-arranging the contents of the truck bed, it now has a home and it seems to be doing a good job.  However, we haven’t put it to the real test yet, since it hasn’t yet gone through the break-in period.  More about that in future updates.

​After a couple of weeks on our own, we managed to connect again with Pat and Fred in Prince George, British Columbia before heading onto to Jasper National Park and down the Icefield Parkway to Banff National Park in Alberta.  As we made our way further south, we went from traveling virtually alone to being the in middle of the thousands of vacationers in a couple of Canada’s most popular parks.
 

Cassiar Highway
 
Over the course of a week, we took a leisurely trip down northwest British Columbia’s Cassiar Highway.  Our next stop after Boya Lake was Jade City, a retail outlet for the area’s jade mines.  Over 90% of the world’s jade comes from this area of British Columbia.  We watched the cutter slice a thin wedge from a large stone, and then polish it to a gleaming shine using a dozen different grades of wet sanding disks.  We learned a bit about how to judge the quality of the stone as well.  

​Moving down the road, we crossed the Arctic-Pacific Continental Divide in Dease Lake, and found another beautiful campsite next to Kinaskan Lake in a provincial park.  We were a minor irritant to a black bear eating by the side of the road, who returned to his spot as soon as we passed.  And we had to stop and take a picture at Eastman Creek, named for George Eastman of Kodak fame, who had hunted in this part of Canada.  

By the time we reached the Bell 2 Lodge (so named because it sits beside the 2nd bridge across the Bell River), we were at least 150 miles or more from a town in any direction.  We took advantage of the amenities at the lodge, which included free hot showers, a hot tub and a fitness center.  We even splurged and ate an excellent meal in their small restaurant.  It was pretty busy for such a remote location. 

Our last stop on the highway was at Mediazin Lake.  This was the most popular of the provincial campgrounds we tried, and had the luxury of offering electric sites.  We even found one right on the water.  Mediazin Lake sits at the intersection of the Cassiar Highway and the road to Stewart BC and Hyder, AK on the coast.  We knew that Pat and Fred were heading there and might be close behind.  But we had no way to communicate.  Neither us nor Pat and Fred had cell service since shortly after leaving Whitehorse, and internet was not available since we left Dease Lake, where we had spoken to them briefly using Skype.  We hiked up to the only business in Mediazin Lake, a mile from the campground and paid a small fee to get some internet.  No word at all from Pat and Fred.  Where were they?  

​With no new information to go by, we decided to disconnect the truck and take a trip to Hyder, AK.  A 40-mile side trip would take us down through the Coast Mountains to the Tongass National Forest, where the bears were supposed to gather at Fish Creek and catch salmon.  We headed out the next morning on a beautiful day for the drive, arriving at Fish Creek around 10:30 (which was actually 11:30a Alaska time).  Apparently most of the bear sightings were early in the morning or in the evening.  And there were only three bears likely to come through.   There were hundreds of spawning salmon in the crystal clear water.  We watched them for a while, as they jockeyed for their spot and fought off any interloper that dared try to take it from them.  But we weren’t willing to wait that many hours to see a bear. 

​ 
Although Stewart and Hyder are close together, compared to Hyder, Stewart is a major metropolis.  We returned across the border and spent some time walking the estuary boardwalk and wondering the small business district.  We thought it might be possible that Pat and Fred were here, so we toured the 2 RV parks, but didn’t see them.  We then headed out of town, and shortly afterward, a black bear scrambled up onto the road, moseyed up a bit and headed off the other side.  Maybe he was on his way to Fish Creek . . .

​With no new info from Pat and Fred, we headed out the next morning for the last 100 miles of the Cassiar  Our next turn would take us east on highway 16, also know as the Yellowhead Highway.

Yellowhead Highway
  
The Yellowhead Highway runs east-west from Prince Rupert on the Pacific Coast to Edmonton Alberta.  We were going to join it about 150 east of Prince Rupert and continue east to Jasper Alberta.  Our first stop was at the New Hazelton Visitor Center where we managed to get the first communication from Pat and Fred in a week. They had been in Stewart when we were there, but we missed them.  They were planning to leave the next day.  That settled, we took the advice of the Visitor Center’s recommendation and took a turn up into Old Hazelton and the First Nations’ Ksan Campground and Museum.  Sitting on the banks of the Skeena River, Hazelton’s position as the northernmost port on the sternwheeler’s route made it a major hub of activity before the railroads and highways took over as freight carriers. 

​After parking the rig, we wandered over to the Ksan Museum with its historic buildings, totems and exhibits.  Stopping into the café, we sampled the best bannock (a fried dough prepare by First Nations people) we had had on our trip.  In talking to the chef, she said the recipe was a family secret that she had just had the privilege to learn from her mother-in-law after 6 years of marriage.  We moved over to the historic downtown, exploring the historic exhibits and buildings.  After a quick supper at the RV, we returned for a movie night in town.  We joined about a dozen other patrons to watch Star Trek – Into Darkness – in 3D.  Who would have thought?

​After another night on the road at Fraser Lake, we met up with Pat and Fred in Prince George at the Wal-mart.  Stocked up for our trip into the national park, we headed out the next morning east toward Mount Robson Provincial Park.   An amazing side trip along the way was the Ancient Forest, a rare temperate rain forest in the middle of hundreds of miles of spruce forests.  It had just been made a provincial park after years of being lovingly preserved and cared for by a local hiking club.  We had our first taste of local raspberries along the hike and were rewarded again at our campsite that night, where the bushes were loaded with them.  

​The next day, it was a short trip into Jasper National Park, where we quickly realized we were entering one of the most popular parks in Canada -- along with several thousands of others. 

​Canada’s Oldest National Parks
 
Sitting on the border between southwestern Alberta and British Columbia are Canada’s first national parks, protecting a large swath of the Canadian Rockies.  To the north is Jasper National Park which surrounds a town of the same name and extends south along the Icefields Parkway to the Columbia Icefields – dozens of glaciers radiating out of a central mass.  Just south of the Columbia Icefields, Banff National Park begins and extends south to the towns of Banff and Lake Louise.  These parks were begun to protect natural resources already heavily promoted as tourist destinations.  The intervening century has only increased their popularity and the crush of tourists that come from all over the globe to see them.

​We had our first rude awakening when we went to register for a campsite.  All of the campgrounds were full, so we were sent to the overflow area.  We were told to “park anywhere”.  Really?  Yes, really.  In the sprawling overflow area, campers and tents found sites wherever they could.  Twice someone parked within inches of the front of our truck.  We made the best of it and spent a few days exploring the park near Jasper.  We took some hikes and bike rides, drove down to Maligne Lake and up to the Skytram, and each night we took in the entertaining ranger programs at the firehall in downtown Jasper.  

​Moving down the highway, we stopped next at the Glacier Discovery Center on a Sunday afternoon.  This took the concept of “crowded” to a new level.  We found a place to park for the night without too much trouble, but when we entered the center to learn more about what was available there, we couldn’t move for the press of people.  Buses were picking up and dropping off hundreds of people.  Glacier tours were running over the ice on the nearby Athabasca glacier in a constant flow.  With luck, we arrived in time to join a ranger-led hike to the toe of the glacier, which was led with humor and skill by Spencer.  One of the more interesting details he shared was the significance of the Snow Dome peak just beyond us.  It is the hydrologic center of North America. From its slopes, water flows to three oceans – Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic.  

​Although we were sitting in a parking lot on a warm, sunny day, the glaciers kept a cool breeze blowing to keep it from getting too hot.  However, by late afternoon as the Center was closing and the tourists departing, a violent thunderstorm moved through, as if the mountains were taking control again.  By nightfall, all was calm and clear as the moon rose over the nearby mountains.  

​The next morning, we left Jasper NP and entered Banff NP.  It was a beautiful day to drive the rest of the way through the mountains to Lake Louise.  Jasper was wide open compared to the press of tourists heading to Lake Louise.  Cars are parked for miles approaching the lake.  We took a spot at the overflow campground outside of town and decided to wait until evening and head in to see it after dinner.  It is beautiful, but is it really worth all the press?  Not quite as busy, and equally beautiful was nearby Moraine Lake.  However, it didn’t have the same reputation or the same crowds.

​We took a trip to Banff the next day to understand what the campground looked like there before we took the rigs there.  It was more expensive and more crowded, so we decided to stay another couple of nights at Lake Louise and use that as the base for our sightseeing in Banff.  The hot springs in Banff were the impetus to create Canada’s first national park, and although the original springs are no longer used by tourists, there is a very good interpretive sight there.  Considering the crowds in town, this was also not nearly as crowded as the other sites in town.  We happened to arrive as a tour was beginning that was excellent and saved the day – much more of the experience we had hoped to find in a National Park.

​We took a drive on the Bow Valley Parkway, which runs between Banff and Lake Louise paralleling the much busier Trans-Canada 1.  Along the way, we saw a bear jam.  A black bear cub and its mother were eating in the woods.  People were getting frighteningly close – with 30 feet – to take pictures.  The ranger finally managed to get them to back off and get back in their cars.  Further down the road we took a short walk along Johnston Canyon to its Lower Falls.  Billed as “Canada’s most popular hike”, Pat described it as walking at the mall at Christmas.  To make the hike easy, catwalks had been installed along the rock wall, suspended over the river below.  It was pretty amazing

By Thursday, we were ready to move on.  We were only a couple of hundred miles from the US and our next major destination – Glacier National Park.